


Brothers

by Cottontail



Category: Vampire Chronicles - Anne Rice
Genre: M/M, Post-The Tale of the Body Thief, Vampire Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-23
Updated: 2020-04-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:07:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23806624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cottontail/pseuds/Cottontail
Summary: That first meeting between David and Louis.SPOILERS: Tale of the Body Thief
Relationships: Lestat de Lioncourt/Louis de Pointe du Lac, Louis de Pointe du Lac/David Talbot
Comments: 8
Kudos: 51





	Brothers

**Author's Note:**

> Something I've thought about often. When David shows up on Louis's doorstep unannounced. 
> 
> I suppose there should be a WARNING for some discussion of assault and rape and PTSD type symptoms.

Up to this point David has had no shortage of courage. So it’s odd to find himself here, at the front door of the Rue Royale flat, trying to work up some courage to knock. He knows who will answer of course, but doesn’t know what that being is going to do when he sees him. And why is he here? Because he doesn’t want to be alone? Or because he knows everything is going to lead to him here eventually anyway? 

He knocks.

A long pause. He counts the beats of his own heart rather than let his mind race, as it has tended to do since the night of his making. The door opens, and before him is the infamous Louis de Pointe du Lac. 

David takes a breath. He remembers Louis only from his brief appearance at the Talamasca Motherhouse that fateful night years ago; when Lestat made an impromptu appearance, forcing Louis to join for the ride. He’d had only an awareness of Louis being back in the shadows of the hallway, angry and frustrated and worried for David’s life. 

This, this is a wholly different sight with vampire eyes. This is an entirely other being. Tall, regal posture, strong masculine presence. Extremely alert, taking in the appearance of David there on his doorstep. He is wearing a simple dark suit coat, an indigo-blue dress shirt open at the collar, and dark jeans. And those eyes; David had read about them so often in Lestat’s books, and even accounts from other sources. Yet nothing prepared him for the depth of bejeweled green, lined in fine black lashes. The perfect arch of each eyebrow adding to the overall effect of an artist’s sketch in ink. Male beauty defined. 

“David.” Louis spoke first, and he had never quite heard his name spoken so fluidly. Like a piece of poetry. 

Somewhere beneath his shock he found his own voice and remembered some sort of manners. “Yes. I apologize for this abrupt appearance, but I simply couldn’t think of where else to go.”

Louis was staring at him. Shocked. He glanced behind David and then back again. “Where is he?” There could be no doubt who “he” was.

“Probably still searching for me in Barbados. I left him.”

Louis was silent for a moment, then gave the smallest nod, “Good for you.” He opened the door wider and stood aside, “Please, come in.” And that’s when David knew he and this man were going to be the closest of friends.

He’d scarcely entered the narrow hallway of the entrance when Louis took his arm and lead him down to what he’d come to know as the front parlor. It was dimly lit with electric light. Plants filled the corners of the room with green leaves. A large desk, replete with a little inkwell and feather quill pen. A vase of bright yellow roses sat on a spinet and filled the room with their sweet scent. The thin silk curtains coving the balcony doors billowed lightly in a warm breeze. Louis gestured to a silver damask sofa and took a seat on a Victorian straight-back chair nearby. David sat, still feeling a bit bewildered that he was here, in this house he’d read and heard about so often, and with this particular man. 

Louis was watching him closely, and David again had a sense that this was the beginning of something. That he would look back on this moment centuries from now as a cherished one. He couldn’t quite get over the vision before him. He’d always written off Lestat’s descriptions of Louis as that of a man in love, who can’t help but describe the object of his affection in the most vivid colors. Now he could see those descriptions were actually quite deficient to the reality. 

“Are you alright?” Louis asked, his brow slightly furrowed and then smooth again. 

“I’m fine.” David said. “Forgive me. I’m a little stunned. You’re possibly the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.” 

This was likely the last thing Louis was expecting, because he visibly faltered for a response, but recovered quickly enough with an endearingly modest duck of his head and glance away. “Well, you’re what, three nights old? Everything is beautiful still.” 

David wants to disagree. It’s not the new vampire vision or the shock of his birth into this world, or any other outside influence. But he’s already spoken way out of the norm of social acceptability for two strangers who just met, so he keeps silent.

A long silence followed, in which neither seemed to know what the next words should be. David began to think he’d made a mistake coming here, but then Louis asked in the most gentle of voices, “What happened?” 

David felt emotion threatening to flood his ability to respond coherently. This kind concern was so opposite the violence Lestat had inflicted. He looked around the room again, at the fine rugs on the floor, the impressionist paintings on the walls, the flowers. He focused on the roses and recited the barest recounting of what happened, “He found me in Barbados. I was alone. I thought he was there to check up on me. He seemed his usual self, you know. Cheerful, interested, curious about how I was handling the switch. I assume you know about the body switch?”

Louis nodded, eyes fixed on David. He faltered again, distracted by those eyes, then lost all words. He was unsure how to tell this to Louis. Was it wrong to tell him these details? This was essentially Lestat’s home, and Lestat’s lover sitting here offering some sort of kindness. Who was he to bring anymore stress into what was already a well-documented unstable relationship?

“He attacked you.” Louis guessed rightly of course. He knew Lestat better than anyone. 

“Yes. Attacked is a good word for it.” David confirmed. “Warned me first.” He gave a mirthless short laugh at the memory. “Then attacked. I couldn’t fight him off. I tried with everything in me.” He felt his muscles tensing now, just at the memory. The anger and sudden animal instinct of fear. 

“David, you were mortal.” Louis pointed out. “I can’t fight him off. The strongest vampires I know can’t fight him off.” 

“I know. Logically, I know.” David doesn’t know why this bothers him so much, but it does. He keeps coming back to it. “I swear to you this is not what I wanted. I never wanted this. I fought him to the very edge of death!” But who is he trying to convince here? Louis? 

Louis looked away, lost in his own thoughts. David felt an ache to know what they were, but didn’t dare intrude. Instead he memorized the profile of the beauty before him; the sable black hair curling just at the nape of his neck and against his collar. The sharp line of his jaw and the gentle curve of his ear. Louis’s gaze returned to his and they held eye-contact for a long moment.

“I’m sorry.” Louis said, and his voice was full of anguish and genuine empathy. David felt an urge to console him in return, but Louis continued. “I’m sorry if it’s my fault somehow.”

“What?” David spoke a bit too loudly, so surprised was he by the turn in conversation. “Impossible. He acts of his own accord. We both know that, certainly.” 

“True.” Louis agreed, “But I can’t help feel this was somehow something I could have averted in him. That he did this to you to retaliate against me for something. We quarreled. He acted like he was over it. I should have known better.” 

“Stop saying such things. It’s not your fault in any way. He’s an unrelenting fiend of his own making.” 

Louis smiled. David felt his breath catch at the sight of it, and a longing to see it more often. When Louis looked at him again, he returned the smile. Yes, this was going to be a wonderful friendship, and perhaps more. “To hell with him,” David announced suddenly. “I was going to Rio before this entire calamity took place. I was packing. I had plane tickets. It’s Carnival season.” He paused, considering his next words carefully. “Come with me.” 

Louis’s reaction is hard to read, but it isn’t an immediate refusal, which gives David hope. “To Rio de Janeiro? You and I?” 

“Yes. Of course. Let him search for me for as long as he wants. He’ll come back here eventually. Then he can search for you too.” 

Louis seems on the verge of agreeing but is obviously conflicted. “It’s not that I don’t appreciate the offer, David, but he and I are already on thin ice around one another. To take off like that would only exacerbate the situation between us right now.” 

“Louis,” David says, finally daring to use the name as if he says it all the time. “Look at what he has done. Do you think he considered your feelings or your relationship when he took off and did this to me? Were you foremost in his thoughts?” Louis stares at him, trying to resolve some inner conflict. David remembers something. Something he specifically wanted to give to Louis. “Here. I have this for you. I tried to give it to him, but he tossed it aside in the… attack.” David pulls the little gold locket from his inner pocket and holds it out. The delicate chain dangling through his fingers as Louis reaches for it. For a moment their hands touch.

Louis is transfixed by the locket, staring at the little picture of Claudia inside. “Where did you get this. I don’t remember this being made.” David can hear the hint of French accent now. It had been purely American before, but emotion apparently brings it out. It’s endearing.

“It was at the bottom of a trunk the Talamasca acquired from your possessions long ago.”

Louis’s green eyes are glazed in blood, but he wipes at them quickly and looks back to David, the locket held firmly in his fist. The same way David had held onto it during Lestat’s violent assault. Held it like an anchor to the physical world. “Come with me.” David whispers. “He’ll find us eventually, but it will be just us for a bit at least. We can talk. We can come to know one another. I think we have much in common. I think… I think I love you already.” 

David never speaks this openly with such emotion; it’s rather embarrassing. He blames the blood change and the trauma of it all. But also, Louis is just mesmerizing, and this is very possibly love at first sight.

Something changes in Louis and they hold one another’s gaze. His demeanor shifts subtly. He looks at David closely for a long moment and then down at the locket, and back to David. “Very well, I would like to go with you; to Rio.”

David feels joy flooding his whole being, and it’s almost as satisfying as the blood of a victim. “Excellent. We can go tomorrow evening. I’ll make arrangements for us both.”

“But perhaps we should at least leave a note for him.”

“No.” David shakes his head. “He can suffer a bit longer. No notes. I forbid it.”

Louis has a vague Mona Lisa smile as he looks David up and down slowly. Warmth spreads slowly through David as he feels that gaze slide over him. 

“You do know he’s the alpha male in this house? He’s not going to take this as anything other than a threat to his territory.”

“Good. Exactly what I’m hoping for. Am I not a threat?” He smiled warmly at Louis, but inside he was secretly thrilled to have validation that Lestat would read it that way. Let him feel threatened and at a loss for what to do. He could suffer just a little longer. “Let him reap what he sowed,” David said.

Slow nod from Louis before he stands and takes the little locket over to the desk and props it there against the inkwell. David stands too and follows, a moth to Louis’s flame. They both look down at the tiny portrait of the child. David hates already to see Louis so fixed on it. Perhaps he shouldn’t have given it over to him. He reaches out and touches Louis’s arm, drawing his attention back. “Move forward with me, Louis. Whether he meant for this outcome or not, we are brothers now. I’m your brother.”

Something in that strikes a chord. Louis had a mortal brother once. He knew that bond. “I know, and I pray for you, David. May we never have bad blood between us, and may we live a very long time together.” And then he did something very unexpected. He leaned up and kissed David gently on the lips, then stepped back. David, fought an urge to reach out and pull him back in, the blood lust swelling within. He was not entirely able to control it just yet, but made a valiant effort here. 

“So lets go out now, brother.” Louis said with a small smile. “I’m not sure I have the right attire for Rio.” 

David, watched him exit the room. He looked around it once more, excitement filling him at the prospect of the rest of this night and the future nights in Rio. And maybe Lestat would eventually join them there, and David would make amends with him. In his heart, he forgave him already. 

/fin


End file.
